THE BOROUGH OF HOVE
La Houue, Huua (xiii cent.); Hova (xvii cent.).
The municipal borough of Hove now contains
3,953 acres, but the old parish of Hove only contained
778 acres. (fn. 1) It lay along the coast
to the west of Brighton beyond
the end of the west cliff, and
reached northwards to the lower
slopes of the Downs. The lowlying land is clay, changing to
chalk in the northern part of the
parish. The village of Hove lay
at the western end of the parish
and the roads connecting it with
Brighton and Portslade were
little more than lanes, until the
development of Hove into a
watering-place began in the
second quarter of the 19th century.
Borough of Hove. Tierced in pairle: 1. Or a saltire azure voided argent; 2. Gules two pairs of leg-irons interlaced argent; 3. Checky or and azure three martlets or, all in a border ermine charged with six martlets or.
The so-called Manor House (fn. 2)
stood on the east side of Hove
Street, a short quarter of a mile to the south-west of
the old parish church. It was a small building of
18th-century date. Its chief architectural feature was
a domed cupola supported by slender columns, on the
summit of the roof, the whole probably designed as
a bell-cote. The building was demolished in 1936, and
a large block of flats now covers the site.
The coombe between the Hove spur and that on
which the older part of Brighton stands was known as
Goldstone Bottom, and part of it is now preserved as
a public park. Within this is a large block of sarsen
stone known as the 'Goldstone'. (fn. 3) The stones which
now surround it have been brought from elsewhere in
modern times. A Bronze Age barrow used to stand in
what was known as Coney-burrow Field at the eastern
boundary of Hove. It was excavated in 1856, (fn. 4) when
an oaken coffin was found containing, among other
objects, a cup of red amber of unusual beauty. The
barrow was destroyed in the following year, and its
site is now the garden of 13 Palmeira Avenue.
Repeated inundations of the sea brought about the
ruin of the medieval village; (fn. 5) 150 acres were washed
away between 1291 and 1340, (fn. 6) probably including
much of the hamlet of Bishop's Wick at the eastern
end of the parish, where a revised rental had to be
drawn up in 1335 owing to damage done by the sea
and only 14 tenants appear a few years later. (fn. 7) Further
losses by the encroachment of the sea occurred during
the later 17th century, (fn. 8) probably after a period of immunity, since in 1617 many cottages, shops, and warehouses for the fishing trade were built on the shore
near Brighton, some even on the beach itself. (fn. 9) The
population, however, was always poor, until the 19th
century, only four houses being assessed for the Hearth
Tax in 1665. (fn. 10)
In 1801 the population of Hove was only 101, but
fifty years later it was over 4,000, owing to the westward building development of Brighton. Adelaide
Crescent and Palmeira Square were laid out about this
time. Shortly afterwards was founded, east of the
parish church, the new colony of Cliftonville, consisting
of the St. Aubyns Villas and the three roads to the east,
leading from the sea to the new church of Holy
Trinity.
In 1840 the railway to Brighton was opened, connexion with London being attained the following year.
The parish is now covered with houses, and the
estimated population of the borough in 1937 was
57,160.
With its development as a watering-place, many
changes in its government have taken place. The first
step towards self-government was the appointment of
the Hove Commissioners, elected on a small franchise,
for the same purposes as the Commissioners at Brighton
(q.v.). In 1832 Brighton and Hove were formed into
one Parliamentary Borough. (fn. 11) In 1893 the parish of
Aldrington was joined to that of Hove for local government purposes, (fn. 12) and in 1898 the Municipal Borough
of Hove received its royal charter. In 1927 the
parishes of Preston Rural and Hangleton and parts of
West Blatchington and Patcham were added to the
borough of Hove. (fn. 13) The corporation consists of a
mayor, 10 aldermen, and 30 councillors, elected from
10 wards.
The Town Hall was built in 1882. The Public
Library, established in 1891, was rebuilt in 1908 and
is also a repository for county manorial documents, with
a special room given by the late Viscountess Wolseley.
The St. Anne's Well Gardens on part of the Upwick
estate belong to the Corporation. The well in the
18th century was used as a spa by Dr. Russell of Brighton
(q.v.). The Sussex County Cricket ground is in the
borough, as well as a public recreation ground.
Manors
At the time of the Domesday Survey
Hove was presumably included in Preston
(q.v.) The connexion of this land with
Preston is shown by allusions in the 13th-century custumal of Preston to the bishop's ploughs in Hove and
to the fact that the men of the canons of Hove were
obliged to reap 15 acres of barley, oats, and wheat by
way of tithe on the bishop's manor of Preston. (fn. 14) By
1291 two prebends had been created, possibly by
Bishop Richard le Poor (1214–17), (fn. 15) one called Hova
Villa and the other Hova Ecclesia. (fn. 16) The church of
Bolney and land in Bolney was attached to the prebend
of Hova Villa, (fn. 17) while the church of Hove was
attached to Hova Ecclesia. (fn. 18)
The manor of HOVE VILLA and HOVE ECCLESIA was, apparently, not divided but was held jointly
by the two prebendaries (fn. 19) until 1874, when it was
transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. (fn. 20)
Shortly after this it was acquired by William John
Williams, a Brighton solicitor, and passed to his son
Harry Montague Williams, whose executors remained
lords until all the tenements had been freed. (fn. 21)
Meanwhile it appears to have been the general custom for the prebendaries to let the manor at farm. An
early lessee may have been Reynold Keneward, who in
1296 paid a lay subsidy of £2 16s. from Hove, a much
larger sum than any of the other inhabitants. (fn. 22) These
in 1340 all lived by working on the land, and no one
possessed goods and chattels worth more than 16s. (fn. 23)
In 1514 it was arranged that the vicar of Hove, William
Atkys, should farm both the prebends, paying £10 per
annum for Hova Villa and 7 marks for Hova Ecclesia (fn. 24) , and this arrangement still seems to have been in
force in 1534. (fn. 25) Apparently the consent of the bishop,
dean, and chapter of Chichester was necessary for each
lease. (fn. 26) The farmers also held the manorial rights and
the same man farmed both prebends though he had to
obtain separate leases. In 1626 Tuppen Scrase obtained the lease of Hova Villa for a term of lives from
Dr. Thorne and in 1641 William Scrase had a lease of
Hova Ecclesia from Dr. Goffe, (fn. 27) being a renewal of
his tenure as Goffe had only recently been appointed. (fn. 28)
From this time the Scrases, who had been customary
tenants of the manor in the previous century and settled
in the neighbourhood much earlier, (fn. 29) were lessees of
the manor and held the court until 1702, when it
passed to Tuppen's great-granddaughter Elizabeth, the
wife of Nathaniel Tredcroft. (fn. 30) Their great-grandson
Nathaniel sold his interest in the manor to William
Stanford of Preston in 1808. (fn. 31) In 1835, however,
Stanford was the lessee of Hova Ecclesia only, while
Hova Villa was leased to William and Charles Marshall. (fn. 32)
Pierpoint. Azure a chief cheeky or and gules.
To the north of the parish and extending into Preston
(q.v.) lay the estate or reputed manor of UPWICK or
HIGHWICK or WICK, which was held of the
bishop as half a knight's fee. (fn. 33) The tenant paid a yearly
rent of 4 broad arrows, which were valued at 2s. 8d. in
1617, (fn. 34) and owed homage and fealty, (fn. 35) heriot and
relief to the lord of Preston. The heriot was paid for
the last time in 1794, (fn. 36) but the same rent and relief
were still paid in 1825. (fn. 37) Upwick probably formed
part of one knight's fee held of the Bishop of Chichester
in 1166 by Simon de Pierpoint or Perpond (Petraponte)
jointly with three others. (fn. 38) Another Simon held it in the
13th century, when his tenants
had to bring all their ploughs to
two boonworks at Preston. They
also took their share in repairing the fences of Aldingbourne
Park. (fn. 39) He died about 1241, his
heir then being under age; (fn. 40) the
custody of his land at Upwick,
which was at the time mortgaged
to a Jew of Norwich, fell to the
bishop and was bequeathed by
him in 1244 to the canons of
Tortington. (fn. 41) In 1256 the tenant was Sir Robert
Pierpoint. (fn. 42) A third Simon appears in 1280, when
he held a court of his own for his villeins 'in Preston',
which clearly represents the Upwick estate. He endeavoured to force Hildebrand Reynberd to serve as
reeve, but he with fifty-three other villeins attacked
Sir Simon, set fire to his house at 'Herwick', killed
his falcon, and did other damage. (fn. 43) In 1354 Simon's
lands had passed to Walter de Pierpoint, from whom
Simon, son of Simon de Pierpont, tried to recover
them. (fn. 44) For 200 years no tenant of Upwick can be
traced, but in 1551 it was held by Thomas Smythe. (fn. 45)
He died before 1559, (fn. 46) and left Wick to his wife Anne,
charging it after her death with an annuity of £6 13s. 4d.
to be paid to the poor of Lewes, Hove, and Buxted. (fn. 47)
In that year she settled Upwick on herself for life, with
remainder to Thomas Pounde and the heirs of his
body. (fn. 48) She afterwards married Thomas Darbye and
in 1572, with their consent, Thomas Pounde sold his
interest in Upwick to Anthony Stapley of Framfield. (fn. 49)
At the same time, the annuity charged on the estate
was extinguished, and transferred to other manors held
by Pounde. The poor of Hove received £3 6s. 8d. paid
on Ash Wednesday each year. (fn. 50) The charity is now
lost, though attempts were made to recover it in the
19th century. Anne died in the winter of 1585–6 (fn. 51)
and Anthony Stapley did fealty for Upwick in 1588. (fn. 52)
On his death in 1606, (fn. 53) he was succeeded by his son
Anthony, the Regicide (d. 1655), (fn. 54) and his grandson
John. The latter was created a baronet in 1660, (fn. 55) but
owing to financial straits, was forced first to mortgage
the estate and then to sell it in 1700 to John Lilly, who
disposed of it the next year to John Scutt, the Brighton
brewer, for £1,000. (fn. 56) Scutt died in 1725 and was
succeeded by his son John, who entailed the estate on
his nephew Benjamin. (fn. 57) Benjamin inherited Upwick
in 1744 (fn. 58) and it afterwards passed to his son and grand
son, both named Thomas. (fn. 59) The former had barred
the entail, so that his son, the Rev. Thomas Scutt, was
able to sell the estate and begin its development as
a building site. (fn. 60) Before 1825 he had sold 24 acres,
now the site of Brunswick Square, and in that year the
boundaries of the estate were
defined by an agreement made
between him and William Stanford, the lord of both Preston
and Hove manors. A map of the
estate shows that Upwick was a
long and narrow strip of land,
running north and south with
Wick House in its centre, (fn. 61) presumably still on the same site as
Simon de Pierpont's house in
1280. In 1830 Scutt sold the
remainder of the estate to Mr.
(afterwards Sir) Isaac Lyon
Goldsmid, (fn. 62) by whose descendants it was gradually sold for building.
Goldsmid. Party saltirewise erminois and ermine a chief gules with a goldfinch proper between two roses or therein.
Churches
The old parish church of ST. ANDREW stands a furlong to the east of
Hove Street, midway between the old
churches of Aldrington and Brighton, all three having
apparently been at one time joined by a road, the
modern Church Road.
The church consisted of a 13th-century nave of five
bays with aisles on both sides, a chancel, and a west
tower. This comparatively large building seems to have
gradually fallen into disrepair with the decay of the
village, and by 1724 the chancel had almost disappeared
and the tower was in a very ruinous condition. (fn. 63) Sunday services were then only held there once in three
weeks in summer and once a month in winter, and
communion was celebrated at Preston. (fn. 64) Soon after
this the aisles became unroofed, and by the end of the
century the church was reduced to the four eastern bays
of the nave, the arches of which were blocked up, and
a bell-cote constructed over the east gable to take the
bells from the fallen tower. (fn. 65) The materials from this
were taken to build a sham ruin in Goodwood Park.
In 1836 the whole was entirely rebuilt except for the
nave arcades.
The church consists to-day of a nave of five bays
with aisles to north and south, a south porch and
western tower, and a chancel with north vestry. The
exterior of the church shows flint-work with pseudoNorman dressings in Roman cement. The arcades of
the nave are supported on each side by four circular
columns with rich stiff-leaf ornament on the bells and
two heavy rolls, with a scotia between them, as abacus.
The bases are water-holding. The arches have an
inner order with large pointed rolls, very deeply
quirked, to the arrises. The western arches are restored,
but the rest of the arcades seem to be original work. No
old monuments remain.
There is one bell, bearing the initials T.H. and
ascribed to the 14th century. (fn. 66) The plate is modern. (fn. 67)
The registers date from 1538, and are now in the
church of All Saints, since 1892 the parish church of
Hove. (fn. 68)
ALL SAINTS was constituted the parish church in
1892. It was designed by J. L. Pearson and the nave
was begun in 1889, consecrated in 1891, and the
chancel, transepts, and chapel added in 1901. The
stone reredos and sedilia on both sides of the chancel
were added in 1908. The base of the tower at the
south-west and the western porch were built in 1924.
The church is of Sussex sandstone ashlar, with an oak
roof in the Early Decorated style, and consists of a nave
of five bays, aisles, transepts, chancel, apsidal chapel at
the south-east connected to the vestry at the north-east
by a passage behind the altar, and a small chapel
beneath the organ also at the north-east. There is a
turret on either corner of the east end, and a good
modern window in the wall of the tower.
EMMANUEL, Lansdowne Road, is an unconsecrated proprietary chapel built in 1868 of brick with a
cement facing and a lead roof. It consists of a clerestoried nave, aisles, transepts containing galleries, a
small chancel at the west, with the pulpit in the middle,
and a gallery at the east holding the organ.
HOLY TRINITY, Eaton Road, designed by Mr.
Woodman, was built in 1864 of red brick with stone
dressings in an Italian Gothic style. There is a battlemented tower on the south with a round stair-turret in
its west wall and with an open porch at its base. The
building consists of a nave of four bays with a wooden
gallery at the west, aisles, and apsidal chancel with the
vestry to the south and the organ-chamber to the north.
ST. AGNES, Fonthill Road, was built in 1913 (the
aisle and porches being added in 1930) and is of red
brick with stone dressings. It is uncompleted and consists of a nave over a hall, south aisle, of which the east
end is divided off as a vestry and the west end is used
as a chapel, and two south porches.
ST. ANDREW, Waterloo Street, was built in 1828
from the designs of Sir Charles Barry, the chancel being
added in 1882, and is of brick, with cement facing at
the west, in a Romanesque style. It consists of a west
porch and turret with clock, nave, wide chancel with
a dome in the middle supported by four arches, the
altar being in a small apse, and western gallery. The
communion plate is of 1828, except for a silver almsdish of 1755. (fn. 69)
ST. BARNABAS, Sackville Road, was built from
the designs of J. L. Pearson in 1883 of split flint with
red brick and stone dressings in an early-Gothic style.
The interior is of whitewashed brick, and it consists of
a nave of four bays with blind triforium arches, aisles,
transepts (the organ being in the north transept),
apsidal chancel divided from the nave by a light metal
screen and having a wooden triptych and panelling,
chapel at the south-east, vestry at the north-east, and
porch at the north-west. There is a small spire above
the crossing.
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, Church Road, was
built by W. G. and E. Habershon in 1852 of split flint
with stone dressings in the Early Decorated style. It
consists of a clerestoried nave of four bays with hammerbeam roof resting on carved stone corbels, aisles, lofty
transepts, with a choir gallery in the south transept,
small chancel, chapel at the south-east, and western
porch with three entrances. There is a tower with a
clock and stone spire at the north-east and with a porch
on the north side of its base, and a hall along the south
side of the church.
ST. PATRICK, Cambridge Road, designed by
H. Kendall, was built in 1858 as a proprietary chapel
and was then called St. James; it was consecrated in
1885. It is built, on a north and south alignment, of
stone rubble with ashlar dressings in the Early Decorated style and consists of a clerestoried nave of six bays
with a hammer-beam roof, aisles, east transept, chancel
with clerestory windows on the west, chapel at the
north-west, and porch at the south. There is the base
of an unfinished tower to the north of the transept. In
addition to modern communion-plate there is a fine
silver alms-dish of Edinburgh make (c. 1635) originally
given to the church of Duffus (Elgin) by John Guthrie. (fn. 70)
ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE, Davigdor Road,
was built by Messrs. Clayton and Black in 1914 of
red brick with stone dressings and it was consecrated in
1924. It is uncompleted and consists of a nave of five
bays, north and south processional paths and path behind altar, sanctuary, and wooden gallery at the west.
In the basement are the vestries and a hall which were
built in 1901.
Advowson
The prebendaries of Hova Ecclesia
were the rectors and also the patrons
of the vicarage. (fn. 71) A vicarage was
instituted before 1291, when it was valued at £5, (fn. 72)
and in 1340 the vicar was receiving £4 16s. a year,
derived from the oblations at the church, tithes of fish,
herrings, cattle, and the tithes of corn from the Croft. (fn. 73)
In 1531 the vicarage was united with that of Preston (fn. 74)
(q.v.) and an annual rent of £4 was payable from the
prebend of Hova Ecclesia to the vicar of Preston. (fn. 75)
With the growth of Hove into a watering-place in
the second quarter of the 19th century new churches
were built, and in 1879 the vicarages of Hove and
Preston were separated. (fn. 76) Although St. Andrews was
for a century in a ruinous condition, it remained the
parish church of Hove until 1892, when it became a
chapel of ease to All Saints.
In 1419 there was a CHANTRY in the parish church
served by a priest, whose salary was at least 7 marks a
year, but there is no other record of the chantry. (fn. 77)
The old ecclesiastical parish of Hove has been subdivided into the following parishes: All Saints, now
the parish church, in the patronage of the Bishop of
Chichester; Holy Trinity, 1864, a perpetual curacy in
the patronage of the bishop; St. Agnes was in 1927
constituted a vicarage in the patronage of the bishop;
St. Andrew, Waterloo Street, a perpetual curacy in
the patronage of the vicar of Hove; St. Barnabas (1883),
a vicarage in the patronage of the vicar; St. John the
Baptist (1854), a perpetual curacy in the patronage of
the vicar; St. Patrick, a vicarage since 1885 in the
patronage of the bishop; St. Thomas the Apostle
(1924), a vicarage in the patronage of the bishop.